And Then Again
by LinaLoN
Summary: It's after NEXT and Lina can't get past what happened, Gourry tries to help. My version of what happens. Please R


"And Then Again..." This is right after the ending to Slayers Next. The group including Syphiel are camping out...  
Gourry was tossing and turning in his sleep while floods of memories haunted him and flashed in his dreams. Lina as the Lord of Nightmares, pointed to him, saying that Lina sacrificed her life for his, then she floated away, he chased her with all his might, finally reached her and grabbed her wrist... only to have her disappear.  
  
Gourry woke up with such a jolt that he interrupted Syphiel's sleep.  
"Gourry dear, are you okay?" she asked him.  
"I, I think so," he replied.  
Then he suddenly noticed that Lina wasn't there and panicked  
"Lina, where is she?"  
"Miss Lina? She's right there," replied Syphiel, pointing to the distance.  
Lina was standing by a lake with the moon reflecting in the water and also reflecting her sad expression.  
"Why is she there?" Gourry asked  
"Ever since what happened with Hellmaster Phabrizzo Miss Lina hasn't slept a night. She'll act like she's tired, go into bed and then the second she thinks we're all asleep; she stands up and walks off,"  
"Why didn't I notice?"  
"Gourry dear, you've always been a fast sleeper so you haven't been awake when she has goes away. However I have, so I know... despite what she says and how she acts; what happened must really be getting to her. As the days go by, she has more and more time to reflect on what happened. Blaming herself for the things that occurred and asking if she should have done something different," continued Syphiel.  
"Syphiel, I get the feeling that something happened that you guys aren't telling me about. Like what happened while I wasn't there..." started Gourry  
Syphiel was taken back and gasped in surprise.  
"Nobody is telling me what. Syphiel, we've known each other for a long time right? Please, please tell me what happened... I have to know," begged Gourry.  
Syphiel paused, then looked away as she told Gourry what happened.  
"At first when Lord Hellmaster took you away, we thought it was just as a hostage to convince Lina to go to Sairaag. However, when we got there; he had something else in mind..." Syphiel began.  
In a flashback scene, Syphiel tells Gourry how an evil swordsman blocked them and how hard they fought him. Lina tried using a Dragon Slave but the Evil Swordsman who possessed the Sword of Light, absorbed the spell and sent it back at her. Lina looked up to see the Evil Swordsman raise his sword to slash her but then Zangulous swept her away. Later, Lina used the Ragna Blade against the SoL and when the dust cleared; it was revealed that Gourry was the Evil Swordsman. Phabrizzo explained how he did originally kidnap Gourry to lure Lina to Sairaag, but then when he saw what Gourry could do with the SoL and how Lina acted to him being kidnapped, Phabrizzo thought it would be more fun to tease her.  
Anyhow, he swept Gourry away and later, Lina, Syphiel and Zangulous arrived at Phabrizzo's temple to find Gourry sealed in an ice chamber. Phabrizzo told them that if they didn't get him out of there, then he would die. The only way to do that was to kill Phabrizzo. Then when Lina and Syphiel threw Dragon Slaves at him and it looked as if he was defeated, Phabrizzo reappeared and was angry. For punishment, he teleported the others there and killed them off and sealed them in ice chambers. He then pointed at Gourry's ice chamber and fired a power beam at it; which started to crack it. That's when Lina activated the Giga Slave.  
When Syphiel was done explaining, both she and Gourry remained silent. Then Gourry spoke up.  
"Why did he do all of that for?"  
"Because he wanted Lina to use the Giga Slave; so that he could make it go out of control and have it destroy the world," answered Syphiel.  
"So Lina didn't want to use the Giga Slave?"  
"No, it was the last thing she wanted to do. She learned from the Claire Bible of what it could do... not only to the world but to herself as well. She didn't want to risk it but when Phabrizzo nearly killed you..." Syphiel drifted off.  
Normally Gourry would have fallen asleep by now but he had a feeling that he had to go and be with Lina for a little bit. So he stood up and strode up to the lake.  
Lina was recalling the LoN's voice saying,  
"Don't let him touch you, if you do then..."  
At that moment Gourry clasped a hand on Lina's shoulder. Lina was so freaked out that she grabbed his arm and threw him into the lake with a "splash".  
"G, Gourry, what are you doing?! You scared the Heck out of me; grabbing me out of the blue like that!" she scolded him, with a red face.  
"Remind me to call your name, next time," he replied.  
Gourry climbed out of the lake, soaking wet. Lina laughed for a little bit.  
"I'm glad I could bring some sunshine to you... even though it was at my expense," commented Gourry, wringing some water out of his shirt.  
"Thanks," replied Lina.  
"Why didn't you tell me what happened with that bad kid? What he made me do..."  
"Who told you?"  
"Syphiel,"  
"I should've known. She's the only person I've told everything to... well almost. Anyway, I didn't want you to have to blame yourself for what happened or have you be miserable worrying about it,"  
"So it's okay for you to do that alone? I know that you're doing that to yourself and you shouldn't,"  
Lina stared off into the lake, making sure to avoid making eye contact with him.  
"You don't know, what it's like. What's it's like to be the reason why the whole world was almost destroyed and the people you cared about almost killed. What's worse was what happened after that..." Lina began.  
Gourry looked up at her and realized that something else was out of place.  
"What are you talking about? Is there something that is haunting you worse than what that bad kid did?"  
"When I cast 'that spell' I did against my will. I had no choice because he was going to kill you and the whole world. When I was done casting the spell, I was overwhelmed by an energy Phabrizzo threw at me. Then next thing I knew, I was in a void of darkness.  
"You wish to summon me to this plane?" a voice called out to me.  
I looked ahead to see a golden figure and I knew that it was the Lord of Nightmares.  
"You're, you're the Lord of Nightmares. Please, you have to do something! You can have my heart, soul and life; anything you want just please defeat Phabrizzo so that I can save Gourry. Even if that happens, Phabrizzo will continue to threaten to destroy the world... so what would be the point of saving him?!"  
"Are you sure, that is your desire? In order for me to be summoned to this plane, I need a host to keep me in this dimension...would that be all right. For me to take your life in exchange for his?"  
"I couldn't be able to live with myself knowing that I didn't do all that I could to keep him alive. The world needs the swordsman of light more than they need a sorceress of Chaos,"  
"If it is so, then reach out your hand and accept my powers," she instructed me," explained Lina, quietly.  
"So that's what that Golden Lina-look-alike meant by sacrificing everything to save me," realized Gourry.  
"But that's not the worse part. When I reached out and accepted her power, I suddenly found myself trapped in the most frustrating situation ever. I was in the back of my own mind. I could see everything that the Lord of Nightmares was doing with me but every thought and every word I had drifted away like it didn't matter; like I didn't exist there. It was the worst and most frustrating because I had no control over my own life," Lina seemed like she was going to just collapse and cry.  
Gourry reached out an arm to her but she sharply pushed it away.  
"Don't touch me, leave me alone!" she shouted in high emotions.  
"You're going to wake everybody, if you don't stop being so stubborn and so hard on yourself!" retorted Gourry.  
Silent tears started to fall on Lina's cheek but she was so cautious about letting Gourry see her cry, that she buried her face in her hands and cried into them. That's when she felt arms and looked to see Gourry wrapping his arms around her.  
"Let go, don't touch me! Why won't you listen to me?" Lina demanded.  
"Something is telling me that I should do this. I can't let go until I know that you're okay and you're old self again," Gourry replied.  
They stayed like that for a while not knowing that Syphiel and the others were watching.  
"They didn't have to be shouting loud enough to wake us up," groaned Zel.  
"What's going on with those two?" Amelia asked, confused.  
Syphiel watched with a mixed expression of hurt and happiness for them.  
"They're healing each other's wounds," replied Syphiel finally.  
"Miss Syphiel..." began Amelia.  
"No, I'm okay. Still, I'll never give up on Dear Gourry. Even if things don't look so good for me. He's never been so dedicated to something as much as this. Two people who have been alone for so long; one with only a light sword, and the other with only dangerous spells, to have found each other to depend on... it's really something I envy. I doubt that anyone has any idea what they've been through except for each other. I wish that I could've had that," sighed Syphiel. "I think that tomorrow I will head back to Sairaag and help the people there. I think you two should go your separate ways as well,"  
"What, why?" Amelia asked.  
"I think that we need to let those two be alone together for a little bit. There are a lot of things that they need to work out and things would only get worse if we get in the way," explained Syphiel quietly.  
"I agree with Syphiel on that," added Zel.  
  
"She warned me not to let you touch me," Lina spoke up.  
"Huh? Who?" Gourry asked.  
"The Lord of Nightmares. She ignored the fact that I was there the entire time but when Phabrizzo was gone and she was leaving, she had a sharing thought with me to make sure not to let you touch me. She said that if you did, the chaotic energy which contained her and my body would be let loose and would consume you, too. Then after that, it would consume the world. I thought I had avoided all that but it was still there. So, I thought maybe it would best for me not to come back... just disappear with all the bad chaotic energy I had. It was dark and all I saw was darkness... and then I heard your voice calling my name. I heard what you said to me and it made me want to be with you. I then wished with all my might to break out and be there with you. I felt a new power growing inside of my soul and then when it looked like I could be free... I saw you grab my wrist and the Lord of Nightmare's panicked voice repeated in my head. So I used that new power to break free, to make sure that nothing would happen. The next thing I new, I woke up and you were there. Both of us were there..." Lina was cut short because Gourry was too quiet.  
Lina looked to see Gourry asleep still with his arms around her. She was angry but a little relieved too.  
"I'm not completely asleep yet," interjected Gourry's voice.  
"What, why not?"  
"It's important to you that I stay awake. Can't we start where we left off? Just keep walking and going, without regret?" Gourry replied.  
"I wish that it was that easy. I'll try to do that and live my life. That's all I want; just to live my life free as a bird and if I fly, will you be flying with me?"  
"I don't get what you're saying but I'll go wherever you're going. I can't just turn around and leave you without leaving a piece of me, too," confirmed Gourry.  
"Good then, see ya tomorrow!" said Lina, then she slapped him on the back and headed for the campground. "Boy, I feel like I could go to sleep for weeks!"  
Gourry shrugged and followed. Syphiel, Zel and Amelia ducked into sleeping positions and pretended to be asleep.  
"Good night," said Lina, getting into sleeping position.  
"Good night, Lina," replied Gourry on the opposite side of the extinguished campfire.  
"Good night, Miss Lina!" interjected Amelia.  
"A, Amelia?! Zel, and Syphiel; you were all watching, weren't you?!" exclaimed Lina, standing up.  
"Now, now Lina; you two were shouting so loud..." spoke up Zel.  
"Did you try to go back to sleep...?"  
"Well no, but..." admitted Amelia.  
"So you were watching! Can't I have a little privacy at all around here?!"  
"Lina, quiet! I'm trying to sleep," interjected Gourry.  
"Here's something to help you get to sleep... Fire Ball!"  
"Miss Lina, you're such a brute,"  
"Watch it, Amelia or you're next!"  
"She's right though, you're so hot-headed..."  
"Zel, back off right now,"  
"Gourry Dear? Gourry Dear? Oh my, Miss Lina really is a brute,"  
"What did you say...!" 


End file.
